washing machine "lint"

[Anonymous Poster]

washing machine \"lint\"

I was wondering if all the lint from a washing machine being emptied into a septic tank will clog up the leach field drainage pipes? At my old house the washer emptied into a laundry tub and we used cheap ladies nylons (we bought new ones and doubled up on the legs) /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif and attached them to the end of the discharge hose to collect the lint. After several wash cycles the nylon collected a considerable amount of lint which did not go into the septic. At my present house the washing machine discharge hose goes directly into plastic drain pipe (which fits inside the drwall) and does NOT have any type of lint collector. There isn't any room here to install a lint filter either. I wonder if any damage is being done without a lint collector. I figure maybe all the lint will go into the septic tank and sink to the bottom and not make its way out to the leach field pipes. Make any sense?

 

[DocHeb]

Re: washing machine \"lint\"

A worrisome web page at The Septic Protector. Granted, they are trying to sell a product, but I am also amazed at how much lint comes off clothes during the wash. My cynicism aside, I must admit there is some appealing logic behind the argument that fine fibers (both natural and synthetic) can't be good for a septic field, and I wouldn't assume these fibers would sink in the tank.

I'm sure there are numerous anecdotes ("...I've done it for 50 years and haven't had a problem - and I never pump my tank either! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif...") for both camps of opinions, yet every septic's drainfield soil is different, and fibers can't help. You can be sure that when my "Mother-of-all-septic-systems" (a very expensive county-mandated engineered field) is hooked to laundry, there will be a lint filter in-line, and not just my wife's old nylons. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[beenthere]

Re: washing machine \"lint\"

I think that is why the septic tank has a baffle plate in it, so the solids don't go out into the drain field. Just water, if the septic is working properly. But you could filter what you let go into the septic, as that wouldn't hurt it at all either.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: washing machine \"lint\"

According to my buddy, who became a millionare reaming drains, better than half his money was made thanks to laundry lint.
The fancy term for what lint does to pipes is tuburculation. In ordinary English, the lint adheres to the inside surface of the pipe, and provides additional places for other things passing thru the drain to adhere to.
Lint containing water traveling from a washing machine to the tank travels at a slower speed than waste from a toilet, so it has more time to leave things behind.
A secondary consideration is what the laundry detergent and bleach dies to the septic tank's chemistry.
As to the question of lint floating or sinking, it does provide possibility for experimentation while we are waiting for nice wether to go play on the tractor.